Mar 2, 2006

A standing room only crowd at last week’s Property Rights Congress meeting sent word to Senator Jim Talent that they did not want the animal identification system being proposed by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. The overflow crowd made their opinions clear to Terry Campbell, Talent's district representative Thursday in Mtn. Grove at the group's monthly meeting. Bob Parker gave an overview of the proposal quoting directly from the Draft Plan issued by the USDA pointing out that the plan starts out as voluntary and progresses to mandatory. It would require tagging virtually all farm animals with radio transmitting tags and reporting all movements of animals to and from their home base, he said. Every property with livestock on it would have to have a number issued by the government and the plan would require compliance with these and other requirements in order to sell or move animals. It was pointed out that USDA says this program is needed to protect against foot and mouth disease and protect the food chain although there hasn’t been a case of FMD in the U.S. for 70 years and non-food horses are included in the program. FMD does not affect humans. Being able to track mad cow disease is given as another reason to implement the program in spite of the fact that many safeguards have already been put in place to protect the consumer and prevent herd infection. Other speakers included a horse breeder who pointed out hardships USDA would be placing on those make their living raising livestock and feeding the nation. Her message to law makers in Washington D.C. is "What were you thinking?" An area veterinarian gave some background and insight on the identification program. An area cattle producer and businessman, Mick Plummer, told the group how he is participating in a program that qualifies the beef he raises for export. He pointed out that this is done through existing methods and feedlot arrangements and without a mandated national animal identification system. Plummer said transmitter tags are applied to his cattle that go to the feed lot before they are shipped but his cattle at home are branded. The horses and other animals on his property are not tagged and he does not have to report movement of animals on his property. He believes a good branding program in each state would take care of identification needs. Ray Smith requested Campbell carry a message to Senator Talent critical of the senator’s support of a 200 square mile National Heritage area being proposed in the St. Louis area. Smith urged the senator to consider the affects designated Heritage Areas have on land owners whose property lies within their boundaries. PRC president Russell Wood said he had met with an area group studying the possibility of seeking a National Heritage designation at their invitation. "We’ll see what they decide to do," he said. Campbell assured the crowd that their comments would be relayed to Washington. Dr. Steve Goff of the State Veterinarian’s office will meet with PRC members at their Gainesville meeting March 9 to discuss the animal ID program. The meeting at Vaughts restaurant will start at 7 p.m. and the public is invited. A meeting on animal ID was held in West Plains by U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson and The Missouri Cattlemen’s Association on Monday.